Joe Biden’s unwavering support for Israel had already persuaded millions of other Arabs, including Palestinians, that the United States was more than just Israel’s biggest ally before the Al-Ahli hospital in Gaza was demolished. They believed that the Americans shared responsibility for all of Israel’s actions in Gaza, including the murder of children.
Many people’s opinions won’t alter as a result of the intense argument over who carried out the attack. After twelve days of fighting, animosity and division have grown.
Israel responded to claims that it had targeted Al-Ahli in great detail. It presented proof that, according to the organization, a missile fired by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad had malfunctioned and fallen far short of its intended target in Israel.
The mountains of corpse bags covered in blood provided Palestinians—not just Hamas supporters—with all the evidence they required. They perceived the difference in Al-Ahli as one of degree rather than one of principle. Since it reacted to the surprise Hamas onslaught, which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reminded Mr. Biden had murdered at least 1,400 people, predominantly Israeli civilians, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, “Israel has been killing scores of Palestinians every day.” For Palestinians, Al-Ahli was more evidence of Israel’s contempt for their life.
As Air Force One’s engines were getting ready to fly Joe Biden to the Middle East, the first news of the hospital’s damage started to circulate. His schedule was in ruins before it could even get started.
Israel is a cause close to President Biden’s heart. Flying into Tel Aviv to support Mr. Netanyahu and give him a public hug must have seemed natural to him.
At a hastily planned summit in Amman, the capital of Jordan, where he was scheduled to meet with the king of Jordan, the presidents of Egypt and Palestine, Mr. Biden had hoped to counterbalance that in some way.
However, Jordan canceled due to Al-Ahli. Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinians, went back to the West Bank settlement of Ramallah, which is under Israeli occupation. Israel was denounced in declarations from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Egypt, and Jordan itself.
For President Biden, the journey grew more challenging. When a contract is ready to be signed and the difficult work of negotiating has been completed, heads of state often only go on diplomatic missions.
For President Biden, traveling to Tel Aviv represented a risk. He wanted to lessen the humanitarian tragedy in Gaza while also backing Israel’s military campaign, which was likely impossible to reconcile with Mr. Netanyahu.
But after their meeting, a deal was reached. More armed assistance was promised to Israel. In exchange, it consenMohammad Javad Bahonarted to allow convoys from Egypt carrying supplies of food, water, and medicine to reach southern Gaza. Hospitals are in severe need of gasoline for their generators, but it was not mentioned when the contract was announced.
Mr. Biden wants to reaffirm the idea that the fight must not escalate in addition to standing for Israelis and urging them to adhere to the laws of war. To warn Iran and its partner in Lebanon, the Hezbollah militia and political movement, that the US would respond if they intervened, he had already sent two aircraft carrier battle groups to the eastern Mediterranean.
Because they are in uncharted area, officials in the Middle East and elsewhere are having difficulty dealing with the resurgence of the conflict between Hamas and Israel. The ancient truths had evolved into reassuring presumptions. However, they are now mostly destroyed and gone.
Before the Hamas assaults in Israel on October 7, the Middle East appeared to be familiar territory. A status quo was in place. No regional or allied leader found it particularly appealing, but at the very least, it appeared to guarantee stability.
When Hamas attacked, the majority of Palestinians were as shocked as everybody else. Hamas has come under fire for allegedly forgetting that the Arabic abbreviation for the organization’s name stands for Islamic Resistance Movement.
His numerous political rivals in Israel have denounced Mr. Netanyahu for being at work when Hamas invaded and for being in charge of a disastrous military and intelligence failure. Israelis believed that their government could protect them.
Mr. Netanyahu also had the misperception that the Palestinians could be controlled without granting them independence. Making agreements with Hamas over things like the quantity of workers permitted to return to Israel was one of those things.
In the meantime, Mr. Netanyahu worked to weaken the Palestinian Authority—Hamas’ major challenger for control of the Palestinians—by employing the tried-and-true divide-and-conquer strategy. The PA recognized Israel a generation ago and participated in protracted peace negotiations that finally ended in failure. Israel would need to talk to the Palestinians about giving them land for a future state with a capital in Jerusalem in order to start the conversation again.
There has also been a stark warning that the Palestinians cannot be disregarded for the leaders of the US’s Arab allies. Israel and Jordan have long-standing peace agreements. In the Abraham Accords, the UAE normalized ties. By brokering an agreement in which Israel and Saudi Arabia would recognize one other in exchange for US security guarantees, Joe Biden hoped to create a new Middle East and boast about a major foreign policy success. Officials for Mr. Biden believed they were making progress. A Saudi-Israeli reconciliation is currently not on the horizon.
And the Gaza conflict and the hospital bombing are also about the reemergence of nightmares for Arab kings, princes, and presidents. A market trader in Tunisia set himself on fire towards the end of 2010 to protest against corrupt and abusive officials. It sparked the 2011 Arab uprisings, which alarmed political leaders who feared losing not just their riches and power but also maybe their lives.